My Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Drawing Demo Experience in LA

I have been blessed to be apart of many things in my blogging career, I would have never thought many years ago that I would be doing the things I do now. I am blessed to be able to sit in the same room with many amazing people. It’s a dream come true to have this job and to work with so many other amazing people in my industry. Last November during the #PixarCocoEvent I had the opportunity to interview Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Directors Stevie Wermers-Skelton & Kevin Deters, Producer Roy Conli and Songwriters Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson. Along with the Animator Michael Franceschi and Animation Supervisor Chad Sellers.

I’m very excited to announce that Olaf’s Frozen Adventure makes its broadcast television debut as part of Disney|ABC Television’s“25 Days of Christmas” celebration on THURSDAY, DEC. 14 (8:00-8:30 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network. If you missed this wonderful short in theaters running in front of Disney Pixar’s Coco then this is your opportunity to catch it with the whole family in the comfort of your own home.

Full Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Trailer

In “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure,” Olaf (voice of Josh Gad) teams up with Sven on a merry mission. It’s the first holiday season since the gates reopened and Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) and Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel) host a celebration for all of Arendelle. When the townspeople unexpectedly leave early to enjoy their individual holiday customs, the sisters realize they have no family traditions of their own. So, Olaf sets out to comb the kingdom to bring home the best traditions and save Anna and Elsa’s “first Christmas in forever.”

During the #PixarCocoEvent in LA last November, I interviewed the creators and masterminds behind Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. We also had a special visit from the Animator Michael Franceschi and Animation Supervisor Chad Sellers. They sat with us and explained the process of how each of the scenes in Olaf’s Frozen Adventure started and then became the short we now love and know.

Each scene goes through different phases that move from concept than through the pipeline of what becomes the finished product. It was amazing to see how with each scene and each stage of the project moved from either a slight difference in shape and color to an almost completely different clip with much more detail and background.

Phases

Each of these scenes was worked on by many talented animators who used their own methods to bring out the realism in their scenes. Take a quick look below at how Chad Sellers used his own recorded videos as emotional inspiration for the characters. The pivotal scene with Elsa and Ana in front of the window, which still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it was inspired by Chad Sellers recorded videos.

We were able to watch the Ana and Elsa Window clip in its stages of production. During the stages, you can really see how Chad Sellers video inspiration helped bring Elsa’s facial expressions alive. I thought it was truly awesome how Chad Sellers used this method and even though I wasn’t able to take shots of this scene in production you can certainly see the finished project on Disney|ABC Television’s“25 Days of Christmas” celebration on THURSDAY, DEC. 14 (8:00-8:30 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network.

Definitely, the highlight of my blogging career was learning how to draw Olaf with the Animator of the film Michael Franceschi. My daughters absolutely love the characters from Frozen, Olaf especially for his fun humor and love of warm hugs. I can’t tell you how amazing it was to learn how to draw him from the animator his self Michael Franceschi. I was surprised at how easy yet complicated it was to draw him with his wonderful carrot nose. I definitely had some smiling faces when I got home when I showed them the signed Olaf I made.

If you haven’t already you need to head to the theater to see Olaf’s Frozen Adventure running in front of Coco. If you can’t make it there before December 14th then make sure you tune into Disney|ABC Television’s“25 Days of Christmas” celebration on THURSDAY, DEC. 14 (8:00-8:30 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network. This touching short film will bring the holiday cheer and spirit to your home and I promise you will love it.